Earth Hour

A very early start to join the annual WWF Earth Hour event. I boarded a minibus with WWF colleagues so we could be ferried to the start point. On the bus a colleague visiting from the Madagascar office for a marine project workshop said he recognised me from his time studying in Cambridge in 2016. It transpired our paths had crossed. Small world, this conservation lark.

With an army of random students and other interested environmentalists, WWF, as it does in multiple cities around the world each year for Earth Hour, had organised a cycling and running event to raise awareness. Some of us (including me) hopped onto rented bikes whilst others prepared to jog for 5 kilometres along one of Dar es Salaam’s main arteries. The destination, where we were to do some tree-planting in an area affected by an upgraded railway line, was the Pugu Hills, to the west of the city. Bad luck for the joggers who realised after the initial 5 kilometres that they were expected to run for an additional 14 kilometres to reach the finish line. No wonder some of them looked on the verge of collapse upon arrival. For the cyclists it was manageable despite the persistent drizzle, and slippery mud in the hills. Watermelon stops on the way provided sustenance for all.

In the hills, there was a tree-planting ceremony, some addresses from local bigwigs, followed by a few hours of carrying 5,000 seedlings into the bush to find holes pre-dug by the community. There was a nice atmosphere of general revelry and some of the youth activists present had boundless energy. We need them to continue this heavy focus on environmental protection and sustainability as they enter the world of work and influence organisations and agendas.